V HERRINGS 315 



a big catch? If they had to haul in by hand, 

 like us, wi'out thic cable an' capstan to take the 

 strain, they'd be twelve days an' then not finish. 

 They only got the weight o' the fish, where the 

 likes o'us, in our little craft, has the weight o' 

 the fish an' nets an' all; an' our nets hain't no 

 smaller though they'm fewer. I reckon, thee's 

 know, they works longer'n us, an' they sticks at 

 it, too, but they don't hae to work so heavy after 

 that. But there, us wouldn't be out In a gale 

 like this here. Us couldn't. What a scuffle an' 

 shackle must be sometimes !' 



All of which was true enough. 



The crew made a complete rotation, and still 

 the net and cable were coming in. In the trunks 

 the piles of herrings grew higher; they were 

 shovelled off the decks; men trod among them 

 and upon them. The seas that the Marie-Marthe 

 took aboard ran out of the scuppers red with 

 blood and dirty with slime and roe. A stream 

 of herring-scales sparkled in the seas that raced 

 past. With hoarse cries and chuckles, the birds 

 swooped down to the feast. Occasionally the 

 men on the forepeak cried out too, when the 

 capstan had to be stopped an instant because a 

 lanyard was jammed on the cable. Buoy after 



